Wednesday, October 6, 2010

You know how I get a lot of emails asking me questions and stuff? Well, I've been thinking about making 'Ask Puglet' or 'Dear Puglet' a regular feature. Or a not-so-regular feature, depending on how many questions I get asked.

I really like getting emails, and my human has this cute little mailbox thing I can totally pose with, but Dutch says I'm not exactly qualified to give out advice. Even with Google backing me up, I guess there are some problems I don't know really know how to solve.

ExampleA friend of mine (let's call her Vivian) has been getting kinda pooped on by someone she used to be friends with (let's call the pooper Poohead). I'm pretty sure it's because Poohead borrowed money from Vivian to pay for a trip to the vet and either doesn't want to pay it back or can't, so she decided to just stop being friends with Vivian instead.

She stopped responding to Vivian's emails and phone calls and even flaked on a one-on-one playdate without even calling to say she wasn't coming. On top of all that, she's also been saying some untrue, very un-friendly things to other people about Vivian.

How poopy is that?!?

Pret-ty poopy if you ask me.Vivian isn't worried or upset about the money part. I don't think she's upset about any of it - but I am! I totally want to Go Poodle on Poohead, because it's just wrong to treat someone so bad. Especially someone who helped you in a time of need. My gut says no one poops on MY friend and gets away with it. But my conscience (aka, my human) says some people can be poopy sometimes and there's nothing I can do to fix that.

Still. If I got a 'Dear Puglet' from Vivian about this particular situation, I'd probably tell her to Go Poodle on Poohead for being such a... poohead.Do you think this is good or bad advice?Does it make me seem more (or less) qualified to solve the problems of innocent friends and strangers?

34 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Yes Puglet! We love your take on the world--that's why we read your blog *every day* So go ahead! Dispense with the pugvice! Sometimes the world needs "pug" advice, not human advice!

sometimes human advice can be too tactful and PC (that means politically correct-you can google it) and sometimes that just makes for frustrating.

Since you love love I think that you're best sticking with friendly, feel good, advice. Sounds like Poohead has enough on their conscious (that's like this thing that haunts you), and my human says that's worse than going poodle on them. If the you don't think the conscious part is enough punishment, ask google about 'karma' ;)

Still. With all of that said I think that you should do a 'Dear Puglet' column. If you spread the word about your new column people will totally bite! Letters = reading = Nikon = cookies, plus it's a cool way to bond with your human!

Some of the best advice I've ever gotten has been from my doggie friends, being a gimpy minded human isn't easy. As for Poohead, he probably needs someone to Go Poodle on him, it may just knock some sense into him. But don't be too rough - he might have a good explanation & has been to embarrassed to share it.

Hi Puglet, or should we now call you the Ann Landers of the doggie world?

Ya know Puglet, our mom loaned a very good friend money to pay a vet bill and was promised the money back. This person even works with our mom. What hurts our mom is not so much the money but the person now totally ignores our mom she won't even make eye contact and it hurts our moms feelings because they were best friends.

I bet you could give our mom good advice, although I don't think she would Go Poodle on anybody.

Can't wait to see your first *Ask Puglet* column.Ellie, Emmitt & Eli friends in San Atonio

Maybe by go poodle, Puglet meant confront the person, because that's exactly what he did with the poodle at the park in doggy terms. In the dog world, go poodle is how dog's "talk" and our human version would mean doing what we all fear doing because in part society looks down on it: and that is confronting, or expressing, or heaven forbid, actually communicating with one another *gasp*

So, Puglet, in this instance you're right! Obviously no human would actually "go poodle" and attach another! heehee, although that would be funny to see us do this with our "snouts" only

Hi Puglet - We'd rather hear about your adventures than stupid human problems... My human deals with those all the time - that's why she comes to your site - for a little happy break! Couldn't you ask your human to politely tell other humans not to unload their squabbles to her so we can get back to what's REALLY important? More of you, your friends and brother Dutch? Your snortie friends, Ellie, Bogie and Gertie

I feel bad for Vivian and Poohead, but maybe Vivian needs to "go poodle" if anyone--a third party probably won't help the situation.

However, i have a Dear Puglet question for you and your human! I'm trying to teach Beulah to take stuff and hold them like you do with your mouth, but she won't open her mouth! I think she knows that there must be cookies and she keeps her jaw shut unless they are what is going in! Any advice on how you learned this trick?

Puglet,You are totally qualified to dispense advise. I think humans in particular could use some dog guidance because as you said sometimes they're weird and confusing, like Poohead and Poohead's twin in San Antonio.I'm a firm believer in karma, so no need to go Poodle on the Pooheads of the world because the cosmos will eventually poop on them.Still, when someone's that mean...lifting a leg on them and doing a little tinkle seems kind of appropriate.

Let me think about the mouth thing. I forget how my human taught me to do that. I *think* she used a toy I really like, held it in front of me and then as soon as I took the toy in my mouth (or did anything remotely like taking it in my mouth) I got a "yes!" and a cookie.

Pretty sure we repeated this a bunch of times and each time I "mastered" one step, the next step got harder (like having to hold the thing in my mouth a little bit longer) before I could get my cookie.

Puglet,Our mom read your Dear Puglet idea to us and we love it. We fight a lot and our mom keeps a spray bottle of water handy to squirt us and break up the fights. Only thing is, Phoebe likes the water squirts and keeps right on biting us. The other three of us scatter in all directions. Mom wants to know how to keep us jealous pugs from fighting. Actually, Phoebe, Olita and Dutchy all gang up on me. Yep!When you gave your "example" and named the second party "poohead" our mom laughed right out loud and made us jump. Then she read all the comments and kept right on laughing. If your Dear Puglet segment will keep our mom laughing, then we are in favor. Pug Hugs from Kizzy in Oregon (I'm the Kizzy with the Phoebe, Olita and Dutchy sibs)

Hey Puglet, totally love the "Ask Puglet" feature. Sometimes pugs and humans just need a place to vent. I know sometimes my mom gets upset and likes to vent to me, I just orb her and let her hug me extra long. It's sad when a friendship goes bad 'cause of money. I understand it though. I mean we're buddies, but if you took one of my cookies...I might go poodle on ya. But then I'd kiss ya and make up

Please, do *both* pug and human advice. Sometimes humans need a dose of real reality, and the simple view of a pug will do. Why can't both humans and dogs/kitties submit questions? Otherwise you'll just be answering trick questions

My mom says to never loan money to friends or family. Consider it a gift, and no more than you can afford to not get back. If you are repaid, then great, but if not, it was a gift anyway. She says she learned this the hard way, and this has worked ever since. Then there are no bad feelings about not getting the money back, and no one has to feel bad or akward about not being able (or willing) to repay.I think you could post "Dear Puglet" letters here, and we could all give our best advice. Then all the pressure's not on you (and Google).Just wondering- what does Brother Dutch have to say about the PooHead?You look hot in today's pic.Lafayette Lola

"Dear Puglet". I think it has a great ring to it! My name is Coco and my human and I just discovered your blog. So if new pugs get a vote, I vote for the Dear Puglet feature. My only suggestion would be to incorporate "treats for pugs" in any advice you might dispense.

OOooooh, Pug- My mom just saw on Craigslist that there is someone looking for a pug to swim for a video this weekend. 'Meals provided'- totall yup your alley! Have her check it out. She says to just type in 'pug' under the Bay Area pets section.

Dear Puglet sounds like a great idea. Mom has somebody she TOTALLY want to Go Poodle! on. Jus the idea of GOING POODLE! is making her feel better.Mom finally sold our extra house. It was a pretty bad scene, and the buyers demanded lots of bones back for problems that didn't really exist. In fact, by fixing one of the fake problems, the wire to the furnace was cut. Now mom has to pay even more bones to fix the furnace that wasn't broken to begin with. She's hoping there is some karmic justice out there for the human who said so many things were broken when they were just fine.Just how would you GO POODLE on a Home Inspector?Snorts!Gen & the Foo

Love the advice column idea!!Unfortunately, there are just too many Pooheads in the world and Going Poodle is not always an option--for humans, that is. My human works with a pair of particularly egregious Pooheads. And, as I understand it, this is NOT uncommon in most human workplaces. However, I get to go to work WITH my human! I give her lots of attention. I let her give me treats and walk me. I even let her play tug-of-war with me whenever I can. This is good for the humans when Going Poodle isn't an option. I tell ya, I don't know what they'd do without us!!

My mom wrote a relationship column for 2 years for a well known (and never to be mentioned) magazine. One of the things she learned is that it's not about how much you know, it's how much sincerity you apply. People respond to honesty and they know when it comes from the heart. If you're flip and glib, they'll ignore you but if you answer them with as much truth as you can, you'll be successful.